LOS ANGELES – Without Kawhi Leonard or Paul George for most of this season, the LA Clippers were one of the surprising teams of this season. Terance Mann, Tyronn Lue, and Reggie Jackson believe the Clippers have shown everyone exactly what they are this season, especially forced without playing their two stars.
Kawhi Leonard has missed all 71 games for the Clippers this season, while Paul George has missed 45 games and has not played since December 2021. Norman Powell, who traded them for a week before the trade deadline, played three games before being injured. The vacancies left by the Clippers’ stars at either end of the floor could not be filled by a player, so instead, everyone bought in.
Led by head coach Tyronn Lue, the Clippers have seen every player on the roster take a step forward this season, grabbing the opportunity to grab and run. The team currently has a 36-35 record with just 11 games left, and it’s not surprising for the Terance man.
“I think that says a lot about this group,” Man said after a recent Clippers victory. “A lot of people wrote us off the card after finding out who was injured and who was injured and they really do not know what we got and that says a lot for our group. We have a lot of people who work hard and work on their game and are ready are when their name is mentioned.
“A lot of people wrote us off the map after finding out who was injured, who was injured. They really do not know what we got. That says a lot for our group.”
Terance man at Clippers continues to win games without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. pic.twitter.com/FqibhrRWwN
– Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 2, 2022
Reggie Jackson has dealt with some inconsistencies this season, but the Clippers have become his number one option behind a fan base that loves him. Marcus Morris also took on the role of a number one option, with the Clippers centering their attacks on him and his post-ups from time to time.
Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris were more clear of a 1A-1B scoring punch this season as opposed to the first and second scoring options.
The Terance man, who signed his contract extension last offseason, took his game to another level after slowly starting the season. Next to the man was Luke Kennard, who shot a career-high and the NBA top 45.5 percent of three this season. Almost every other three-pointer set up by Kennard goes in.
Terance Mann and Luke Kennard have played 1,116 minutes together this season, second in most of all two-man lineups on the Clippers behind Reggie Jackson and Ivica Zubac.
Since the All-Star break, Ivica Zubac has averaged 6.0 post-ups per game. That’s fourth in the NBA behind Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Kristaps Porzingis and more than Karl-Anthony Towns, Nikola Vucevic, and LeBron James, who the Lakers often used as center.
Amir Coffey played fantastically on his two-way contract. Nicolas Batum was his super all-around self. Robert Covington or, ‘the fastest hands in the league, per Reggie Jackson, came in and made a direct impact. Isaiah Hartenstein brought a bit of a point guard feel to the midfield position, from which the second unit has benefited tremendously this season.
Tyronn Lue believes that, even without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, this Clippers team will fight and compete to the end.
“[We have] no give up, “said Tyronn Lue.” No matter who is on the floor, we want to compete every night and we want to win games. So this unit that we have, they have shown that they can do that. And every night we will compete and try to win. That said, you will not win every game and you will not play every game well. But if you continue to build the right habits, you will win more games than you lose and we have done that so far.
Reggie Jackson is not even willing to make a guess as to how far these Clippers can go.
“I never set a ceiling on anything,” Jackson said after a recent victory. “Like the tournament, you just have to get in. You go and anything can happen. I understand statistics, I understand certain teams may not want to advance on certain sums, but, I mean shoot, why not? Why not defend the chance? It finally took a team in the NBA to come back from a 1-3 deficit and then it was done over and over again.Why not be one of the first? Why not be one of the first? That is our team mentality, we will keep pushing , we will continue to go into each game and we will see where the chips fall.
“I never set a ceiling on anything. It’s a tournament, just have to get in. Go in and anything can happen … Some teams may not have won certain sums before, but why not? Why not defend the chance?”
Reggie Jackson on how far the Clippers can go. pic.twitter.com/ac7StJFLda
– Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 4, 2022
The Clippers still have 11 games left this season, and will have a handful of 28-hour games without a game, meaning they will be able to practice and prepare for the play-in tournament in April.
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